On Saturday, November 8, 2008, Dave Harris will give the sermon, titled, “The Will of God.”

The services can be heard at www.cognetservices.org at 12:30 pm Pacific Time (which is 2:30 pm Central Time). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.

What is persistency? It is defined as continuing firmly or obstinately in a course of action, in spite of difficulty or opposition. It is a habitual behavior pattern, continuing to exist or endure, or occurring repeatedly over a prolonged period.

How persistent are we in prayer? Whenever we ask God for something, does He answer right away?  Sometimes He may, but often times He won’t.  That does not mean however that we should stop trying.  If we know that it’s for a good cause, then we continue to ask, and we are always thankful. Colossians 4:2 tells us that we must continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.
 
Persistency pays off. We do pray about the same things over and over again, don’t we? However, our prayers shouldn’t be vain repetitions–just words coming out of our mouths, a script that we read every day–but we pray about such things that we care for. When one of us is sick, do we pray once about it, or do we pray continuously until he or she is healthy?  Even then we don’t stop praying because we thank God and ask Him to continue to be with that individual, to keep him or her strong and healthy. When we love somebody, do we tell that person once that we love them or do we tell them repeatedly?

How persistent are we in our Bible study? Yes, we can come up with excuses for not being diligent and persistent in this regard. We are all very preoccupied in our busy lives, but as we continuously hear about the importance of Bible study, even 10 minutes of meaningful study is very fruitful. We just have to make it a habit! 

Prayer and Bible study are part of our tools to live our lives successfully. How persistent are we in running our spiritual race? 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 admonishes us to run our spiritual race “in such a way” that we “may obtain” the prize.

Our zeal for God’s Kingdom must be continuing. We must have zeal to win. We have to have faith and trust that we can finish the race. We have to believe in God and what He promises us, and that we can always go to God for help in times of need, so that we can be successful.

Let us imagine a physical race, and let us compare it with our spiritual calling. Before we may run a big race, there are certain fears that we must overcome. We have to stay focused, not becoming distracted by our surroundings. We have to make sure that we are attentive because a false start could get us disqualified. One false start gives us a warning, but now we have extra pressure built upon us, because one more false start, and we’re out of the race. As we run our race, we have to look straight ahead. We must not look back, but we must stay on course by not drifting from side to side, into someone else’s path. We must stay on our own path.  Now we run as hard and as fast as we can, giving it our all, striving for that finish line and obtaining that prize. Finishing the race is what’s important. We don’t give up.

But, as opposed to a physical race, where only the top three will receive medals, the spiritual race rewards all those who finish, who never give up, but who have been approved, as it says in James 1:12. Is this the attitude we have so we can obtain our prize? Are we this dedicated when it comes to God’s plan for us?

We have to be persistent in whatever we do, and especially in spiritual matters which are very important to God. We must always remember that all the blessings that we receive and all that we have comes from God. So, let’s be thankful and do what God requires of us. Let us continue to be persistent in all things, including in our prayers and Bible study, so we can finally receive the ultimate prize.

Barack Obama Wins US Election–and the World Hopes for Real Change

Deutsche Welle reported on November 5:

“Democrat Barack Obama has won the US presidential election by a large margin. Voter turnout at 64 percent was the highest since World War II. Speaking to supporters in Chicago, the president-elect promised a new direction for the country, and reached out to supporters of his opponent, Republican Senator John McCain. Outgoing President, George W. Bush, congratulated John McCain for the campaign he conducted with Governor Sarah Palin. Obama, who takes office in eleven weeks, will be the first African American president in US history. He has won 28 states to win 349 Electoral College votes, far more than the 270 he needed…”

“World leaders have hailed Barack Obama’s victory in the US presidential election as ‘the dawn of a new era’ and called for the global superpower to change the way it does business. German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated Obama for what she called his ‘historic victory’. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, extended his ‘warmest  congratulations.’ Kenya, the birthplace of Obama’s father, declared a national holiday to welcome the world’s first, black US president.”

The EUObserver reported on November 5:

“… Brussels urged for a ‘new deal in a new world’ under the leadership of Barack Obama. ‘This is a time for a renewed commitment between Europe and the United States of America,’ European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said… [He] assured the US President-elect of his support when both Brussels and Washington will ‘face together the many challenges ahead of us’…

“French President Nicolas Sarkozy whose country is currently chairing the EU congratulated him for the ‘brilliant victory,’ noting ‘By choosing you, the American nation has chosen change, openness and optimism.’

“‘It would give an excellent message to the people of the EU if Barack Obama were to make a speech in the European Parliament during his first visit to Europe,’ the parliament’s president, Hans Gert Poettering, said in his statement of congratulation. ‘This way he could address the almost 500 million citizens of the European Union,’ he added.”

The Difficult Road Ahead for President-Elect Barack Obama

The New York Times wrote on November 5:

“No president since before Barack Obama was born has ascended to the Oval Office confronted by the accumulation of seismic challenges awaiting him… On the shoulders of a 47-year-old first-term senator, with the power of inspiration yet no real executive experience, now falls the responsibility of prosecuting two wars, protecting the nation from terrorist threat and stitching back together a shredded economy…

“What kind of decision maker and leader Mr. Obama will be remains unclear even to many of his supporters…

“Whatever collaboration there may be in the short term, Mr. Obama represents the end of the Bush era in the long term. Yet he will find himself dealing with the Bush legacy for years to come. He promised on the campaign trail to close the detention facility at the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, but analysts in both parties expect that to be more difficult than he imagines. He will inherit a deficit that could approach $1 trillion next year, which could curtail his ambitions, like expanding health care coverage…

“Mr. Obama’s soaring speeches have created such a well of anticipation that there is a deep danger of letdown. He talked during the campaign of a ‘new politics’ bringing Republicans and Democrats together. But if he really works with Republicans to find common ground on issues like Iraq, terrorism and climate change, he risks alienating his liberal base…

“‘There’s always some surprise that you can’t plan for,’ said Nancy E. Soderberg, a top national security aide under Mr. Clinton. She recalled the first President George Bush’s decision to send troops into Somalia just before handing over the Oval Office to Mr. Clinton…”

The Los Angeles Times added on November 4:

“The nation is in dire economic straits… The new president will focus first on stabilizing the economy… he will probably defer some of his biggest, most controversial goals until later — a decision that may send some of his liberal supporters into postelection depression…”

The Associated Press wrote on November 5:

“No president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has faced economic and financial market crises so dire and so urgent as Obama confronts now. And Obama also must deal with wars in Iraq, which he has promised to end, and in Afghanistan, where he plans to send U.S. reinforcements. He may have headaches with his own Democrats on war issues. Liberal Democrats want immediate withdrawal from Iraq, and may balk at sending more troops to Afghanistan…

“With election-reinforced majorities in both the House and the Senate, the Democrats are in full command of the government. They will have an effective Senate majority of at least 56 seats, counting two independents who have sided with them… [but] it takes 60 votes to end debate and force action. That will remain an obstacle…

“Bush is the past. Obama is the future, and it begins now, in troubled times, for a president-elect with a costly agenda of promises that would be difficult to deliver in far better economic circumstances.”

The Bush Legacy–“The Era of American Leadership Is Over”

On October 30, Der Spiegel Online published an article, which gave an interesting assessment of the USA. We are setting forth below excerpts from the article, which accurately describe how most Germans and Europeans look today at President Bush, his administration and the country as a whole. The big question is, will the new U.S. administration under President Obama be able to substantially change European perceptions of the USA?

Der Spiegel Online wrote:

“In his two terms in the White House, US President George W. Bush has presided over a precipitous fall in America’s reputation around the world. History is likely to judge him a failure. Now, his successor will have to dig the US out of a deep hole… Rarely has the decline of a nation… been so strikingly documented… Never before have such low approval ratings been measured for a US president than for Bush in his last few months. They are currently at between 19 and 20 percent. More than four out of five Americans believe that the nation is ‘headed in the wrong direction’… After seven years of Republican dominance in Washington, Bush’s fellow Republicans now avoid him like the plague…

“Iraq is the gaping foreign policy wound, even if the level of violence in Baghdad and some provinces has declined. The war violated international law, divided the allies and wounded the Americans in terms of their value system and self-respect. Over and above the enormous financial cost, the war has been the source of great human tragedy. More than 4,000 American soldiers and an estimated more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died, while more than four million Iraqi men, women and children have been forced to flee their country.

“There will always be debates over whether it made sense to bring down the brutal regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein with military force and become an occupying power. There is much to suggest that it was the wrong choice. It undermined America’s political standing (while bolstering Iran’s influence as a regional power) and, even among US allies, fueled the suspicion that Washington was solely interested in oil and military bases… There is ‘no longer the slightest doubt,’ writes The New Yorker, that the Bush administration lied to and manipulated the American public to gain support for the invasion of Iraq. It is also considered indisputable fact today that the conduct of the war was incompetent…

“Another ugly blemish on the Bush administration is the disgrace of human rights violations in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. The administration bears responsibility — as it does for the scandalous weakening of prohibitions on torture, a move that is simply incompatible with a country based on the rule of law. The man in charge at the White House is believed to have directly approved the practice of waterboarding, which simulates the sensation of drowning in its victims…

“The domestic consequences of the Bush years have also been catastrophic. The national debt has almost doubled, to an inconceivable $10 trillion (€7.75 trillion). The number of Americans without health insurance rose by over eight million to 47 million, while the number of those living below the poverty line grew by almost six million. Bush’s tax breaks for the country’s wealthiest citizens have made America’s already extreme social disparities even more glaring…

“The well-known British philosopher and author John Gray… notes: ‘The era of American global leadership, reaching back to the Second World War, is over’…”

U.S. Treasury Keeps Borrowing Over a Trillion Dollars

The speed with which the U.S. Treasury keeps borrowing astronomical amounts of money is frightening. It seems like every sense for balance has been tossed aside. How long do we have to watch until we realize that the American Titanic is hopelessly sailing full steam ahead against its providential deadly ice berg?

AFP reported on November 3:

“The US Treasury said Monday it would seek to borrow a record 550 billion dollars in the October-December period to help stabilize the financial sector hammered by the global credit crisis. The fourth-quarter borrowing estimate was substantially higher than the 408 billion dollars announced in July, and is a record high for quarterly estimates… The Treasury said the federal government had borrowed 530 billion dollars from the markets in the third quarter.”

EU at Brink of Recession

Deutsche Welle reported on November 3:

“The European Union’s economy is set to grind to a halt in 2009 and only start picking up in 2010 as the financial crisis takes its toll on one of the world’s major economic blocs. There is a ‘real risk’ of the world’s largest economy sliding into recession, officials warned… While they make for bleak reading, the EU’s 2009 figures are better than those of the United States and Japan…

“Of the EU’s four biggest economies, Britain is almost certain of facing a full-blown recession in 2009, with its gross domestic product shrinking by 1 per cent. Germany, France and Italy are all expected to post zero growth rates next year… Among the EU member states expected to feel the full pain of the downturn are… Ireland, Estonia and Latvia… Spain, the EU’s fifth-biggest economy and formerly one of its strongest economic performers, is also set to tip into recession… France… is expected to see its deficit hit the 3 per cent of GDP upper limit this year and to exceed this limit in 2010…

“The grim economic outlook comes as Europe’s top banks revealed how much they were being squeezed of profits by the credit crunch. Germany’s second-biggest bank, Commerzbank, said Monday it had lost 285 million euros and would seek an 8.2 billion euro ($10.5 billion) ‘stabilization’ injection from the government and another 15 billion euro to secure financing. French bank Societe Generale registered an 83.7 percent drop in third-quarter net profit after being hit hard by the collapse of US lender Lehman Brothers. Britain’s biggest home lender HBOS Plc reported it could lose as much as 5 billion pounds from risky assets and bad loans.”

Greater EU Political Role in the World

The EUObserver wrote on November 4:

“The EU has in a letter to the next US president appealed for a greater European role on the world stage, more engagement with a resurgent Russia and more emphasis on peacemaking in Afghanistan and the Middle East… The letter urges the new US administration to put the Middle East peace process at the top of its agenda and foresees a ‘useful role’ for the EU as co-guarantors of a future Israeli-Palestinian accord…

“The US remains critical of Germany’s reluctance to commit troops to combat zones in southern Afghanistan, while the former-communist EU states are concerned by France’s Russia-friendly tone.”

Russia vs. the West

The Times wrote on November 5:

“President Dmitri Medvedev took advantage of the euphoria in America today to order the deployment of missiles inside Europe as a response to US plans for a missile defence shield. Speaking within hours of Barack Obama’s election as the new US President, Mr Medvedev announced that Russia would base Iskander missiles in its Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad next to the border with Poland…

“His announcement prompted a burst of applause from government ministers and parliamentary deputies assembled in the Kremlin. The President failed to congratulate Mr Obama or even to mention him by name during his 85-minute state of the nation address televised live across Russia. Instead… [he] accused the West of seeking to encircle Russia and blamed the US for encouraging Georgia’s ‘barbaric aggression’ in the war over South Ossetia in August. He issued a warning that Russia would ‘not back down in the Caucasus’…

“Mr Medvedev blamed the US for the global financial crisis, saying that the rest of the world had been ‘dragged down with it into recession’. He claimed that the era of American domination after the collapse of the Soviet Union was now over.”

How Ministers of Religion Get Involved in Politics

Surely, one should not have expected too much, if anything, from the American propaganda associated with the circus of its presidential elections. Exaggerations and misrepresentations were common-place, and the Hollywood-type showmanship of America’s candidates and their political supporters were big entertainment. And famous and not-so-famous entertainers were anxious to throw their weight behind a particular candidate–as if this would mean anything.

But when ministers of religion–who are supposed to keep their noses out of the political arena–began to compare a presidential candidate with Moses, then something is for sure morbid and rotten. It reminds us of Austrian priests and bishops who praised Hitler as the new Savior and asked Austrian Catholics to vote for him and the Anschluss [“Union”]. It reminds us how the popes crowned the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. When religions and religious representatives get involved in politics, it has ALWAYS resulted in political disaster.

The Telegraph reported on November 3:

“Adulation of the Democratic nominee is building to a crescendo. Offering a prayer before a rally in Columbus, Ohio today, Cornal Garnett Henning, an AME [American Methodist Episcopal Church] bishop for parts of Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, compared him to Moses and Martin Luther King in the same breath. He thanked God for having ‘given us a Moses and a Martin called Barack Obama’ and asked the Almighty to ‘grant that we together… may have the will to bring about the change we need’ and ensure that ‘those who cast their sacred vote will not be deprived this right’…

“As I left the rally, there was a man chatting into his cell phone while selling clothing that offered a modified version of the national motto of the United States, substituting the candidate’s name in place of that of the Almighty. ‘In Obama We Trust’, proclaimed his t-shirts.”

Such misplaced trust in ANY political candidate or president is a major reason WHY America is going down–and WHY its status of a respected superpower is a thing of the past. For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

More Religious Confusion

A striking example of the hopeless confusion among some American “preachers” and “prophets” can be seen in the following article, published by the Salt Lake Tribune, dated October 30. The mistakes and errors contained in the preaching of some of those ministers are too numerous to mention, but here are some excerpts:

“Some Web sites and conservative Christians have tried to argue that Obama could be the foretold Antichrist… Tim LaHaye, co-author of the millennial Left Behind series, told the Wall Street Journal that he recognized allusions to his work in the ad but comparisons between Obama and the Antichrist were incorrect. ‘The Antichrist isn’t going to be an American, so it can’t possibly be Obama. The Bible makes it clear he will be from an obscure place, like Romania,’ the 82-year-old author told the paper…”

The Bible makes it clear that there will be NO rapture, as postulated in the Left Behind series, and that there is not even an “Antichrist” per se. Rather, the Bible speaks of the “spirit of antichrist” and “many antichrists.” However, it does talk about a military leader–the “beast”– and a religious leader–“the false prophet.” It is true that the “beast” won’t be an American, but neither will he be from an obscure country, “like Romania.” For further information, please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.”

Will There Be a Black Pope?

Times on Line wrote on November 6:

“The election of Barack Obama as the first African-American US President could pave the way for the election of the first black Pope, according to a leading black American Catholic. Wilton Daniel Gregory, 60, the Archbishop of Atlanta, said that in the past Pope Benedict XVI had himself suggested that the election of a black pontiff would ‘send a splendid signal to the world’ about the universal Church.

“Archbishop Gregory, who in 2001 became the first African American to head the US Bishops Conference… said that recent Popes, beginning with John XXIII and Paul VI, had brought prelates ‘from all nations and races’ to Rome to take up senior positions in the Curia, the Vatican hierarchy… Archbishop Gregory said that the next time cardinals gathered to elect a Pope they could ‘in their wisdom’ choose an African pontiff…”

Evolution in Harmony With Creation?–NO WAY!!!

On November 3, 2008, Zenit reported the following:

“There is no incompatibility between the scientific theory of evolution and the Christian understanding of creation, says the archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn… Citing various addresses from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, before and after his election as Pope, the Austrian cardinal explained that ‘there are many proofs in favor of evolution.’ Nevertheless, he stressed, ‘though this theory enriches our knowledge of life, it doesn’t respond to the great philosophical question: Where does everything come from and how did this everything take a path until coming to be man?’…

“In the same vein, Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences, explained to Vatican Radio that the theory of evolution is even closer to the biblical account of creation than many other theories. ‘Considering the fact that the Bible presents us with a God who created the world in seven days, the idea of a progressive creation is introduced,’ he explained. ‘In this sense, it is closer than, for example, the theories of the ancient Greeks, who thought of an eternal and cyclical world.'”

The plain truth is: Both Cardinal Schönborn and Bishop Sorondo are WRONG. There is no conceivable way to harmonize the biblical account of creation with the theory of evolution. To do so would require an interpretation of the Scriptures completely contrary to their expressed statements. For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Theory of Evolution–A Fairy Tale for Adults?”

“Frozen Mice Cloned – Are Woolly Mammoths Next?”

Will the Jurassic Park of Michael Crichton (1942-2008) become reality after all? And is the world watching helplessly and indifferently how some of its scientists may bring it to the brink of utter disaster?

Reuters reported on November 3, 2008:

“Japanese scientists have cloned mice whose bodies were frozen for… 16 years and said on Monday it may be possible to use the technique to resurrect mammoths and other extinct species… Mammoths may be the extinct animals that scientists would be most likely to try to clone, as many of the animals have been found preserved in ice. In July 2007 Russian scientists discovered the body of a baby mammoth frozen in the Arctic Yamalo-Nenetsk region…”
AFP added on November 4:

“The scientists extracted a cell nucleus from an organ of the dead mouse and planted it into an egg of another mouse which was alive, leading to the birth of the cloned mouse, the researchers said… The cloned mouse was able to reproduce with a female mouse, it added.

“But the researchers said tough challenges remain ahead on how to restore extinct animals, which would require breeding with animals that are still alive. To revive a mammoth, researchers would need to find a way to implant a cell nucleus of a mammoth into the egg of an elephant and then implant the embryo into an elephant’s uterus, it said.”

Ban on Same-Sex Marriages in California

The Associated Press reported on November 5:

“In an election otherwise full of liberal triumphs, the gay rights movement suffered a stunning defeat as California voters approved a ban on same-sex marriages that overrides a recent court decision legalizing them. The constitutional amendment… will limit marriage to heterosexual couples, the first time such a vote has taken place in a state where gay unions are legal.

“Gay-rights activists had a rough election elsewhere as well. Ban-gay-marriage amendments were approved in Arizona and Florida, and Arkansas voters approved a measure banning unmarried couples from serving as adoptive or foster parents. Supporters made clear that gays and lesbians were their main target…

“Similar bans had prevailed in 27 states before Tuesday’s elections, but none were in California’s situation—with about 18,000 gay couples married since a state Supreme Court ruling in May. The state attorney general, Jerry Brown, has said those marriages will remain valid, although legal challenges are possible…

“Elsewhere, voters in Colorado and South Dakota rejected measures that could have led to sweeping bans of abortion, and Washington became only the second state—after Oregon—to offer terminally ill people the option of physician-assisted suicide. A first-of-its-kind measure in Colorado, which was defeated soundly, would have defined life as beginning at conception. Its opponents said the proposal could lead to the outlawing of some types of birth control as well as abortion. The South Dakota measure would have banned abortions except in cases of rape, incest and serious health threat to the mother…

“Two animal-welfare measures passed—a ban on dog racing in Massachusetts, and a proposition in California that outlaws cramped cages for egg-laying chickens…”

As we mentioned in previous Q&A’s, the visions in the book of Zechariah relate foremost to our days–even though some of them might also refer to initial and preliminary fulfillments at the time of Zechariah.

Zechariah 4:1-14 reads as follows:

“(1) Now the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. (2) And he said to me, ‘What do you see?’ So I said, ‘I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. (3) Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.’ (4) So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, ‘What are these, my lord?’ (5) Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, ‘Do you not know what these are?’ And I said, ‘No, my lord.’ (6) So he answered and said to me: ‘This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” Says the LORD of hosts. (7) “Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone With shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!'”‘ (8) Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, (9) ‘The hands of Zerubbabel Have laid the foundation of this temple; His hands shall also finish it. Then you will know That the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you. (10) For who has despised the day of small things? For these seven rejoice to see The plumbline in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the LORD, Which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.’ (11) Then I answered and said to him, ‘What are these two olive trees–at the right of the lampstand and at its left?’ (12) And I further answered and said to him, ‘What are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?’ (13) Then he answered me and said, ‘Do you not know what these are?’ And I said, ‘No, my lord.’ (14) So he said, ‘These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.'”

1) General Overview of the Meaning of the Vision

John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible contains the following remarks: “… this [vision] represents, under the type of Zerubbabel building the temple, the building of the church by Christ; and which is done and finished, not by might or power of man, but by the Spirit, notwithstanding all opposition, and contempt of it… The temple was a type of the church, and Zerubbabel a type of Christ…”

A similar comment can be found in Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible:

“For though in the first instance the words, ‘the hands of Zerubbabel etc.,’ relate to the building of the material temple, and announce its completion through Zerubbabel, yet the inference, ‘and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you,’ shows that the meaning is not exhausted thereby, but that here too this building is mentioned only as a type of the building of the spiritual temple; and the completion of the typical temple is but a pledge of the completion of the true temple [the Church of God, compare 1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:19-22]…”

2) The Great Mountain

Regarding the great mountain in verse 7, which will become a plain, John Gill points out:

“This is said in reference to those who opposed the building of the temple, as Sanballat, and others; or the Persian monarchy, and Babylon the capital of it; a mountain being a symbol of a kingdom, or capital city; so Babylon is called… hence the Targum paraphrases the words thus, ‘how art thou accounted a foolish kingdom before Zerubbabel!’ and may denote the opposition made to Christ, and to the building of his church…. and may include all the enemies of the church and people of God, as sin, Satan, and the world; who, though they may look like high and great mountains, and make much opposition, and throw many difficulties in their way, yet in the issue will [be] of no avail…”

3) The Seven Eyes of God and the Lampstand

The seven eyes of God (verse 10) are seven angelic beings which are also mentioned in Revelation 5:6. Please note that Zechariah 1:8 describes four of these seven angels. They are also referred to as seven lamps on the lampstand (verse 2). The tabernacle had a seven-branched lampstand–that is, a lampstand with seven lamps (Exodus 25:31-37). Solomon’s Temple had several lampstands (1 Kings 7:49). A similar description is found in Revelation 1:20, where seven angels are described as seven stars in Christ’s hands, functioning as ministering spirits for seven churches. These seven churches are described as seven lampstands.

As we explain in our free booklet, “The Sacrificial System and the Tabernacle in the Wilderness,” on pages 35 and 36, the lampstand typifies Christ, the Light of the world. It also symbolizes the Church of God and every single converted Church member. The oil for the lampstand symbolizes God’s Holy Spirit. Christians must continuously make use of its power (2 Timothy 1:6).

4) “The LORD Sent Me”

We read in verse 9 that the LORD says that the LORD sent Him to the people. This shows that the designation, the “LORD,” can refer to either one of the two God beings–also known as the Father and the Son. Here, the Son, Jesus Christ, is saying that the FATHER sent Him (that is, Christ) to the people.

5) The Capstone

Verse 7 speaks of a capstone (or “headstone” in the Authorized Version). This is the last stone to be placed in the building. It is remarkable that the pyramid is the only building where the cornerstone is identical with the capstone. Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:6)–and He is also referred to here as the capstone, showing that the temple is built through Him. He is the beginning and the end (Revelation 1:8)–the very foundation on which the temple–physical and spiritual–must be built. Verse 9 says that Zerubbabel laid the foundation–but “no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).

The pyramid also describes the governmental hierarchical structure within the God Family. God the Father is over all. Under Him is Jesus Christ. Converted Christians will be changed into Spirit beings at the time of Christ’s return, and they will rule with and UNDER Christ for a thousand years. And so, God’s Church today is also hierarchically structured. Jesus Christ, the HEAD of the Church, ordains and GIVES ministers to the Church to guide and lead the membership (Ephesians 4:11-16).

6) The Temple

Even though the vision is talking about the construction of a physical temple at the time of Zerubbabel, it also applies to the end time. As explained above, one application must be seen in the reference to the spiritual temple–the Church. But it is also possible that another physical temple will be built prior to Christ’s return–and that a modern “Zerubbabel” will be used in some way for the accomplishment of that task.

7) The Two Olive Trees

The two olive trees, as mentioned in verses 11 and 12, have dual or even triple application.

The commentary of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown points out:

“Primarily, the ‘two’ refer to [the high priest] Joshua and [to the governor] Zerubbabel. God… at each of the transition periods of the world’s history has sent great men to guide the Church. So the two witnesses shall appear before the destruction of Antichrist… in [Revelation] 11:3, 4, the ‘two witnesses’ are identified with the two olive trees and the two candlesticks.”

The Ryrie Study Bible adds:

“Joshua and Zerubbabel witnessed to [God’s] power in seeing to the completion of the Temple [in 516 B.C., Ezra 6:14, 15]; and in the Tribulation days two mighty witnesses will yet arise (Rev. 11:4). All true witness must be done in the power of the Spirit.”

The New Scofield Reference Edition adds the following:

“The two olive trees represent Joshua and Zerubbabel, whose witness in that day is the prototype of the two witnesses of [Revelation] 11:3-12. Actually no human being can be the real source of the power that actuates God’s witness. It is only as Joshua [after his cleansing, as described in Zechariah 3], Zerubbabel, or any other human being represents Christ, the true Priest-King, that he fulfills this vision. In their fullest significance the two olive trees speak of Christ, the LORD’s Priest-King (cp. Ps. 110:4).”

The Broadman Bible Commentary contains the following annotation:

“It is proper to identify these two servants with Zerubbabel… and Joshua… Both are directly involved in serving the Lord’s kingdom. These two are the current representatives of a long line of promise… The ‘sons of oil’ (anointed)… are those who serve the cause of the Lord’s presence among his people. They are the ones who build the house… and who are the servants of holiness which must surround the place where the Lord dwells…

“The genuine servants stand to the right and to the left of God [the new King James Bible says, “beside,” in verse 14], who rules over the whole earth… The vision should be seen in the general messianic frame of Zechariah’s prophecy. The Lord is returning to Zion and will set up his kingdom there. In so doing he is fulfilling all the promises made to Israel and to David. This act is not only a comfort for Israel, but a key factor in… his reign for the whole earth…”

The construction of the temple will be accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit (verse 6). Please recall that the two olive trees are also called, “anointed ones.” They are anointed or set aside by God to fulfill His task for them–and they have to do it by yielding to the power of the Holy Spirit.

8) Conclusion

In conclusion, Zechariah’s vision of the lampstand and olive trees does not only relate to the time of Zerubbabel and Joshua, but also points at events at the time of the return of Jesus Christ–the Messiah. Christ–the Head of the Church–is the Lampstand who gives us light, strength and understanding through the Holy Spirit. At the very end, two remarkable persons will appear on the world scene–called the “two witnesses”–and perform mighty works in the service of God. Religious, political and military forces, under the influence of Satan, will oppose them and ultimately kill them–but God will resurrect them through the power of His Holy Spirit (Revelation 11:11-14). For more information on the function and identity of the two witnesses, please read our new free booklet, “Is That in The Bible?–The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation.”

The end-time destroying mountain or “great millstone” of the Babylonian system will be defeated by the power of God (compare Jeremiah 51:25-26; Revelation 18:21). At that time, God will set up His Kingdom here on earth which will never be defeated, and “Of the increase of HIS government and peace There will be no end… The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:7).

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

A new member letter by the ministry was sent out this week, and it is also posted on the Web. In the letter, the ministry is reminiscing on the Feast of Tabernacles in England and Arizona, while reflecting on the months ahead. A copy of our new book, “Is That in the Bible?–The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation!” was enclosed in the mailing for all those who had not already received their copy.

A new StandingWatch program was posted on StandingWatch, Google Video and YouTube. It is titled, “No Way Out of Worldwide Financial Crisis?” In the program, Norbert Link discusses the following: Even though governments try to deal with the worldwide recession and looming depression, it seems to get worse by the day. Now we are told that we should not expect any relief for several years–if at all. The USA and Britain seem to be the leading casualties in the crisis, which has been called by financial experts as a “once-in-a century credit tsunami” and “the worst financial crisis in human history.” Bail-out plans and guarantees are not even meant to provide lasting solutions. Why is that? What brought us into this unparalleled mess? And are there really NO solutions at all?

Ever feel like you have reached your limit? Do you sometimes wonder if your own personal efforts are falling short? Do trials wash over you leaving you thinking that you just can’t take any more?

In truth, we all experience times in our lives when we think we have been pushed beyond our own expectations. Not all of these occurrences are necessarily bad for us–not if we follow God’s lead.

We have this assurance about the trials we may encounter, as stated in 1 Corinthians 10:13:

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear [endure] it.”

Beyond trials and temptations, we face another reality in our Christianity. As servants of God the Father and of Jesus Christ, we have been given responsibilities for which we are accountable. In summarizing His teaching about the qualities of a faithful servant, Jesus said:

“‘…For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more'” (Luke 12:48).

An additional dimension for us to consider about the kind of service we are to give in our calling is found in another of Christ’s teachings:

“‘So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, “We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do”‘” (Luke 17:10).

As we have each answered our calling and have continued to faithfully serve God, we must go on to become profitable servants! We must advance in our service, and the way to do that is given by Peter: “[B]ut grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

We have just finished the annual Holy Day season for this year, and we now have several months to deeply reflect on and implement what we have learned. We have been taught new things, challenged to really be involved in the Work of God and inspired to love one another fervently–in other words, to do even more!

Each one of us can do this, because we are servants of God–and with Him, all things are possible!

The Mysterious Death of Austria’s Joerg Haider–Was He Murdered?

The British tabloid, The Sun, wrote on October 17:

“Investigators say the Austrian Far Right leader was nearly four times the booze limit and travelling at more than twice the permitted speed when he lost control at 88mph last Saturday (October 11). But the makers of his Volkswagen Phaeton limo insist the motor is one of the safest in the world and should have survived the crash in Klagenfurt. The car giants yesterday sent its own experts to examine the mangled wreckage and search for signs it may have been SABOTAGED.

“The German firm also sparked fury by linking the death of fascist icon Haider, 58, to that of Princess Diana. The neo-Nazi chief careered off the road as he drove home from a boozy party. But the promoter of the party has insisted he was not drunk when he set off. VW spokesman Peter Thul claimed that someone with access to Haider’s car key could have manipulated the limo’s electrics which control the engine’s ‘brain’.  He said: ‘It is a fact that Haider was going too fast, but such a speed on that curve is not a problem for the car’s physics. The Phaeton and Audi A8 are the safest of all. You’d need the key to manipulate the electronics, so someone at a garage would have to tamper with it. Many things bring to mind Lady Diana’s death.’”

Der Spiegel Online added on October 24:

“A day after Jörg Haider’s protégé [Stefan Petzner] stepped down as leader of the far-right Alliance for the Future of Austria — having all but admitted that Haider was gay — reports emerge that the late politician’s widow wants a new autopsy to investigate his death. The body of Jörg Haider… was pulled from a planned cremation last weekend at the request of his widow, Claudia Haider, according to an Austrian newspaper which says Mrs. Haider is unsatisfied with the official version of her husband’s death.

“Haider died in a sudden car accident on October 11, less than two weeks after his party was boosted in a contentious national election. He was speeding, drunk, and had reportedly just seen Stefan Petzner, his political protégé and rumored lover, at a gay bar. Petzner, 27, was abruptly sacked as Haider’s successor on Wednesday after a radio interview all but confirmed the two men were lovers. The Austrian paper Heute reported that Claudia Haider wanted a new autopsy by doctors outside Austria. The paper cited senior members of BZÖ, who suggested that Haider had been drugged.

“Some forensic… experts wondered why there were no skid marks on the road where Haider smashed his VW Phaeton and speculated he was unconscious at the wheel…

“Haider’s affair with Petzner was an open secret in Austria. Still, his death prompted a nationwide outpouring of grief — some Austrians said he was ‘our Lady Di’ — and the apparent confirmation of Haider’s bisexuality this week roiled the BZÖ’s conservative party base. ‘It has been an open secret for years that Haider was gay, and most Austrians would have preferred for it to remain a secret,’ a political science professor called Reinhold Gärtner, at Innsbruck University, told the New York Times.”

“Recession Alarm Rings Around the World”

AFP reported on October 24:

“Giants of the auto, airline and technology industries ordered emergency action against the global financial crisis on Friday as shares took a new hammering amid mounting gloom. Even a 1.5 million barrel a day production cut by OPEC failed to stop oil prices falling amid fears of a deep global recession. Grim news backing those fears came from around the world.

“China, Japan and 11 other Asian nations agreed to set up an 80-billion-dollar war chest to fight what ex-US Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan called a ‘once-in-a-century credit tsunami’… In Britain, official figures confirmed the country was about to enter a recession… The combined impact sent shares tumbling in both Asia and Europe after overnight falls in Wall Street… ‘The best word to describe what’s going on right now is panic,’ said Credit Suisse strategist Satoru Ogasawara…

“The suffering extended to the auto industry with Renault ordering almost all French plants closed for at least one week… PSA Peugeot-Citroen chairman Christian Strieff said he had ordered ‘massive’ production cuts… New figures showed industrial confidence in both France and Italy had fallen to the lowest level since 1993…”

Germany’s Grim Financial Crisis

AFP reported on October 25:

“The financial crisis will last at least until late 2009…  ‘The risk of collapse is far from over. It would be wrong to lift the alarm,’ Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said, offering a grim assessment of the country’s financial health… The 480-billion-euro (610-billion-dollar) rescue package for banks approved last week is to last through next year, ‘and we will certainly need it for that duration,’ he predicted. ‘We won’t know whether the rescue plan will entail real costs until between 2010 and 2013,’ he added.”

Deutsche Welle reported on October 25:

“Two more German banks seemed set to line up Saturday for a government rescue… One of the banks run by Germany’s 16 states, BayernLB, has already appealed for help, and a second landesbank, HSH Nordbank, run by the states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, said it had decided in principle to apply. Landesbanks, which also have powerful non-government shareholders, have been among institutions hit hardest in the past year by investment in subprime US mortgages… A third landesbank, WestLB, was on the verge of applying for help…”

Will Germany’s Financial Crises Lead to Merkel’s Downfall?

Der Spiegel Online wrote on October 27:

“The financial crisis and the threat of recession are revealing German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s weaknesses and could contribute to a dramatic change in her party’s prospects in next year’s election… No one in the coalition government is mentioning a balanced budget these days. Instead of the continued economic upturn economists had predicted for next year, the country is now more likely to fall into a recession. Merkel can no longer campaign as Germany’s feel-good chancellor…

“Merkel has, in fact, been less than convincing in recent weeks. She has hesitated and faltered when the pressure was on. And she has been behaving exactly the way that her critics have always accused her of behaving. The chancellor seemed unsure of herself when it came to preventing the impending collapse of the banking system… Merkel’s clumsiness was especially noticeable…

“Merkel also flip flopped when it came to the political consequences of the economic downturn… In addition to inaccuracies and a lack of decisiveness, the financial crisis exposed another deficit that is just as serious a problem for Merkel: She cannot explain her policies convincingly. She is unable to come up with a clever way to combine a series of individual decisions into an overarching concept. Her address to the German parliament, the Bundestag, in which she explained the government’s emergency bailout package, sounded like she was reading from a legal textbook…

“Another problem for Merkel is that she faces the crisis more or less alone. Her fellow conservative colleagues in cabinet are more of a burden than a boon.”

“Worst Financial Crisis in Human History”

The Daily Mail reported on October 25:

“Sterling took a hammering as economic figures showed the UK approaching full-blown recession. Bank of England deputy governor Charlie Bean warned that the pain is just beginning, calling the situation the ‘largest financial crisis of its kind in human history’.

“On the 79th anniversary of the Great Crash of 1929: Britain’s economic output slid 0.5 per cent – more than twice the decline expected by the City… Markets tumbled around the world, with leading UK shares losing almost £50billion… Sterling had its worst-ever week against the dollar since 1971 and hit a record low against the euro… The oil cartel Opec cut production, a move likely to increase petrol prices up to 5p a litre… Experts warned that hedge funds are facing disaster, with billions likely to be wiped off savings and pension funds… Hundreds of jobs were axed in the insurance, cosmetics, haulage and textile industries.

“The plunge was prompted by the worst set of UK growth figures for 18 years, recording the first time that the economy has officially contracted since 1992… Tory leader David Cameron declared: ‘This is the day the recession became real. We have had ten years of a Government saying no more boom and bust. We have had ten years of a Government not putting aside money for a rainy day. Well, that rainy day has now come.’…

“Foreign investors are less willing to finance the UK because of its record debt burden and slumping economic output… Analysts warned that the nation faces an extended period of austerity, as unemployment soars and families are forced to save on even basic essentials.

“Professor Andrew Clare, of Cass Business School, said Britain has amassed a record debt burden that must now be paid off. The economist added: ‘We are going to have to wear a hair shirt as a nation. If this turns out to be recession lasting five or six quarters, which looks possible, we are not going to see the slightest upturn until 2010. And even then we can expect at least five years of muted growth.’… while all economies are suffering from the banking crisis, yesterday’s ONS report suggests that Britain will be a leading casualty.”

On October 27, The Guardian wrote the following:

“Estimated paper losses from UK banks on mortgage-backed securities and corporate bonds are currently £122.6bn… Gordon Brown insisted yesterday that it was right for the government to increase borrowing in order to fund investment to help the economy through tough times…

“The Bank of England may have put the paper cost of the global crisis at a staggering $2.8 trillion, but how does one come to grips with such a sum? Think of it like this: it could… pay off the last quarter’s public debt 45 times. It is more than three times the sum of UK annual public spending…”The New York Times had already reported on October 3, 2008, that “The American International Group said on Friday that it had… drawn down $61 billion of the $85 billion emergency bridge loan it received from the Federal Reserve two weeks ago, an announcement that startled credit ratings agencies.”

A Way Out of Our Financial Mess?–Hardly!!!

MSNBC reported on October 25:

“Asian and European leaders said Saturday they have reached a broad consensus on ways to deal with the global financial meltdown and will present their views at a crisis summit next month in Washington… Although short on details, the statement, adopted Friday, calls on the IMF and similar institutions to help stabilize struggling banks and shore up flagging share prices…

“Responses to the crisis among participants have been varied thus far. The 15 euro countries and Britain reacted in dramatic fashion, agreeing to put up a total of $2.3 trillion in guarantees and emergency aid to help banks. In contrast, South Korea, China, Japan and the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations have merely recommitted themselves to an $80 billion emergency fund to help those facing liquidity problems — to be established by next June…

“The IMF, whose loans normally include strict provisions, is discussing loan packages with close to a dozen countries from Iceland to Pakistan, and is examining ways to speed up the process.”

Bild Online reported on October 28 that Iceland’s bankruptcy may just be the first of additional national bankruptcies soon to come, involving countries such as the Ukraine, Pakistan, Romania, Hungary, Spain and Greece.

In addition, The Times reported on October 13, “the Royal Bank of Scotland [was] taken under state control at a cost of 20 billion pounds.” It also said that “Reliance on US will never be the same.”

Even seemingly good news in the financial market is not perceived as good these days. The Associated Press reported on October 29:

“Wall Street’s best day in two weeks — and one of its best ever — was a joyless rally. Even a manic, final-hour stampede of buying that sent the Dow Jones industrials soaring almost 900 points did nothing to dispel the feeling that the market could turn on investors in an instant.”

And, the Associated Press reported on October 30, 2008:

“The government reported Thursday the economy shrank in the summer, the strongest signal yet that a recession may have already begun, a day after the Federal Reserve slashed a key interest rate to battle an economic downturn… The classic definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative GDP. Many analysts believe the GDP will decline in the current October-December period by an even larger amount and they are forecasting a negative GDP figure in the first three months of next year… While Wall Street posted its second biggest point gain in history Tuesday in anticipation of the Fed rate cut, the bleak economic reality appeared to ensure that the euphoria was short-lived…

“Analysts also noted that just lowering rates cannot serve as a panacea to overcome a credit crisis. While the goal is to encourage banks to begin lending again, financial institutions are skittish about extending new loans given the huge losses they have racked up in bad mortgages.

“Meanwhile, the administration announced that the spigot had been opened on the $700 billion fund created by Congress Oct. 3 to rescue the U.S. financial system. Treasury issued a report showing checks had been disbursed for $125 billion in payments to nine major banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. The goal is to bolster their balance sheets so they will resume more normal lending…

“Besides cutting interest rates, the Fed announced it was extending credit lines worth $30 billion each to the central banks of Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Singapore in an effort to bolster financial markets in those countries and relieve investors’ anxieties. It brought to 14 the number of central banks that the Fed has entered into so-called swap arrangements for currency as a way to pump more liquidity into global credit markets, part of an effort that the Bank of England estimated has resulted in $5 trillion in support being put forward by governments worldwide.”

“Then Ephraim Went to Assyria…”

The Washington Post wrote on October 25:

“Since Sept. 1, about $16.3 trillion worth of global stock market value has been erased… this could be just the beginning of steep declines in the stock prices of major companies that depend on exports to the United States and Europe for much of their profit…

“Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he wanted the help of other countries. ‘This is a global financial recession, and we’re fighting it every way we know how, working with other countries, trying to get the banks moving here in Britain,’ he said.”

These are interesting comments from Gordon Brown in light of Hosea 7:11-12: “Ephraim [Great Britain] also is like a silly dove, without sense–They call to Egypt, They go to Assyria [Germany]. Wherever they go, I will spread My net on them; I will bring them down like birds in the air; I will chastise them According to what their congregation has heard.”

Note also Hosea 5:13: “When Ephraim saw his sickness And Judah his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to King Jareb [“Jareb” means, “contentious”]; Yet he cannot cure you Nor heal you of your wound.”

For more information, please read our free booklets, “Europe in Prophecy” and “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.

Controversial Horst Seehofer New Bavarian Premier

Deutsche Welle reported on October 25:

“Horst Seehofer… has promised his party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), he will exert heavy pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel… The CSU was replacing its leadership after a state election debacle last month in which the CSU lost its absolute majority and must enter a coalition. Delegates blamed the poll loss on Merkel, who leads the CSU’s ‘sister party,’ the Christian Democratic Union. Though both parties are broadly conservative, the CDU has rejected a CSU plan to offer a larger tax rebate to commuters, bigger exemptions for heirs from inheritance tax and other tax cuts…

“[The CSU delegates] approved with a huge majority [Seehofer’s] agreement with the smaller Free Democrat Party (FDP) to rule Bavaria jointly… For the first time in 46 years, the CSU is unable to rule the largely Catholic state of Bavaria without a coalition partner… Seehofer said his objective as premier replacing Guenther Beckstein would be to restore the CSU’s old strength, with 50 to 60 per cent of the popular vote.”

Seehofer resigned his post as the German minister of agriculture, to be able to become the new Bavarian premier. He came into the limelight recently due to his marital infidelity, his fathering of a child out of wedlock, and his subsequent denial of his ongoing extramarital adulterous affair, causing a temporary split-up within his family. However, according to Bild Online, when he was sworn in as the new Bavarian Premier on Tuesday, his wife and his two adult children were present during the ceremony.

Seehofer has the reputation of a controversial and unreliable politician. In an article, dated October 9, 2008, the German daily, Rhein-Neckar Zeitung, called him a “chameleon.” It continued: “Reliability does not count for him, but rather clever political tactics.” The paper stated that even his friends describe him as “fickle and as a political crank.” One Bavarian minister was quoted as saying in the past, “If Seehofer meddles one more time in my affairs, I’m going to slap him.”

Incredible… How America Is Losing its Way

WorldNetDaily reported on October 25:

“A Wisconsin pastor has been charged with felony physical abuse of a child after he spanked his 12-year-old son for lying and a teacher notified social services… [The minister] is free on a $10,000 bond, but he could face up to three years in prison and fines for disciplining his son… The boy said his father gave him two ‘swats’ that ‘hurt a little’ on his rear end in June…

“One of his siblings mentioned the spanking to a teacher, who called social services, according to the report. A June 7 report from the Divine Savior Healthcare emergency department indicated that the boy had slight bruising on his buttocks, but it said there was no swelling and he was not experiencing pain. The medical paperwork said the boy told physicians he didn’t think he was abused and he loves his father. The documents show the boy’s doctor does not believe he was abused, and he called the event a ‘social services fiasco.’…

“A judge ruled Thursday that the case will head to trial. Now jurors at the Columbia County Courthouse will decide whether the spanking constituted ‘reasonable discipline’ permitted under state law. The pastor’s 21-year-old daughter… stood outside with a sign that read, ‘Thank you for spanking me dad’ as a showing of support for her father.

“District Attorney Jane Kohlwey told the Portage Daily Register the spanking was not reasonable, because it left bruising, though [the pastor’s] attorney claims photographs only reveal red marks… [The charged pastor] has been forbidden from spanking any child as part of his bond.”

Medical Scandal–About Half of U.S. Doctors Knowingly Prescribe Useless Drugs

The Associated Press and USA Today reported the following on October 24:

“About half of American doctors in a new survey say they regularly give patients placebo treatments — usually drugs or vitamins that won’t really help their condition. And many of these doctors are not honest with their patients about what they are doing, the survey found… Placebos as defined in the survey went beyond the typical sugar pill commonly used in medical studies. A placebo was any treatment that wouldn’t necessarily help the patient… Half the doctors reported using placebos several times a month…

“In some cases, placebos were given to patients with conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome. Doctors also gave antibiotics to patients with viral bronchitis, knowing full well that a virus is impervious to antibiotics, which fight bacteria. Experts believe overuse of antibiotics promotes the development of drug-resistant strains of bacteria.”

U.S. Raid in Eastern Syria Incurs Arab Wrath

The Time wrote on October 27:

“Sunday’s surprise raid by helicopter-borne U.S. troops in eastern Syria raises at least three key questions. Given that the U.S. is saying the number of volunteer fighters infiltrating Iraq from Syria has dwindled significantly in the past 18 months, why was this action deemed necessary? Does the raid signal a shift in U.S. tactics in the region? And with just over a week before the U.S. presidential election, why now?

“In what is thought to be the first such incursion from the Iraq side since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, at least four U.S. helicopters crossed Iraq’s western border with Syria and attacked what officials in Damascus said was a half-constructed building in Sukkariyeh Farm, 5 miles from the Syrian frontier town of Abu Qamal. Eight people were reported to have been killed in the raid. Damascus ‘condemns this aggression and holds the American forces responsible,’ said the Syrian government in a statement that went on to demand that the Iraqi government launch an investigation into ‘this serious violation.’…

“This is not the first such raid into Syrian territory in recent years. In September 2007, Israeli jets bombed a site in northeast Syria suspected of being a nuclear facility…”

AFP added on October 27:

“US forces in Iraq staged a ‘successful’ raid into Syria against foreign fighters, an American official said on Monday, as a furious Damascus accused Washington of ‘terrorist aggression.’ Among those believed killed, the official said, was Abu Ghadiya, ‘one of the most prominent foreign fighter facilitators in the region.’… It was the first confirmed US action of its kind into Syrian territory and signalled that Washington is moving to the kind of aggressive tactics against insurgent sanctuaries along Iraq’s borders that it has been using with increasing intensity in Pakistan’s tribal border areas.

“‘We consider this criminal and terrorist aggression,’ Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem told a news conference in London after talks with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. ‘Killing civilians in international law means a terrorist aggression,’ added Muallem, whose country’s official media said eight civilians were killed, including children. Asked if Syria would use force if the Americans mounted a similar operation again, he said: ‘As long as you are saying if, I tell you, if they do it again, we will defend our territories.’…

“The official press in Damascus blasted the attack as a ‘war crime’ by Bush’s administration. Damascus summoned the official US and Iraqi representatives in protest… The Arab League condemned the assault as a ‘violation which does nothing to help stability in the region and can only lead to new tensions,’ calling for those responsible to be held to account. In neighbouring Lebanon, Prime Minister… Siniora said the raid ‘constitutes a violation of Syrian sovereignty and thus is a dangerous, unacceptable attack that we condemn.'”

Der Spiegel Online reported on October 29:

“In Paris, the office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy released a statement Monday expressing ‘serious concern’ and calling for ‘the strict respect of the territorial integrity of states.’ Javiar Solana, the EU’s top foreign policy official, said that he was ‘worried’ and hoped matters would quickly return to normal. The foreign ministries of China and Russia both joined the chorus, focusing their criticism on US violation of Syrian territory… In Germany, responses to the attack have been fairly muted. Neither Chancellor Angela Merkel nor Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier have released statements on the incident. Some German commentators take a look on Tuesday.

“Left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes: ‘Whether the US action was a snafu or not, the question still remains: Why now? Nobody would deny that there has been a problem for years with jihadis streaming into Syria from all over the Arab world so that they can be smuggled into Iraq. But the fact is that, in the summer, it was the Americans themselves who announced to their relief that infiltrations in 2008 had already gone down by 50 percent. And the Syrians are becoming increasingly more aware of how the demons they have awoken have been turning back against them. Last month’s al-Qaida attack in Damascus, in particular, reinforced that lesson. By now, even the Syrians have become more interested in tightening up their border with Iraq. So why the current escalation? Is this the Bush administration’s way of waving goodbye to Syria?… To launch an attack on Syrian territory is also a shot across the bow of the Europeans who have been laboring for months both to strengthen ties with Syrian politicians and to encourage them to follow more constructive policies.’

“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘As tasteless as it may sound given the deaths of eight people, the US attack on Syrian territory was a political warning… The question now is: How will the Syrians react? For President Assad, the American action has to be rather humbling in that his country’s sovereign territory has been breached by the US military and, in the process, not only alleged terrorists were killed, but also innocent civilians. The fact is that Syria’s 1980s army can’t provide a military response [to] the US operation. As things stand, Assad can only swallow his pride and increase efforts to keep underground fighters away from his borders. But he could also do the opposite and ratchet up the Iraq war to a new level. If that were to happen, the American[s] will have brought about the exact opposite of what they had meant to accomplish.'”

Iran’s “Preemptive Strike” Against Israel?

On October 10, 2008, haaretz.com reported the following:

“Senior Tehran officials are recommending a preemptive strike against Israel to prevent an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear reactors, a senior Islamic Republic official told foreign diplomats two weeks ago in London. The official, Dr. Seyed G. Safavi, said recent threats by Israeli authorities strengthened this position, but that as of yet, a preemptive strike has not been integrated into Iranian policy…

“Safavi said a small, experienced group of officials is lobbying for a preemptive strike against Israel… Safavi said Tehran recently drafted a new policy for responding to an Israeli or American attack on its nuclear facilities. While the previous policy called for attacks against Israel and American interests in the Middle East and beyond, the new policy is to target Israel alone. He added that many Revolutionary Guard leaders want to respond to a U.S. attack on Iranian soil by striking Israel, as they believe Israel would be partner to any U.S. action.”

Middle East Peace Talks on Hold

AFP wrote on October 28:

“Israel’s political parties decided on Tuesday to hold early elections on February 10, a decision that will leave US-backed Middle East peace talks in limbo for at least three more months… Both Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni’s centrist Kadima party and the right-wing Likud party of hawkish former premier Benjamin Netanyahu, the two frontrunners for prime minister, had pressed for holding elections as soon as possible. President Shimon Peres formally initiated the election process on Monday after Livni failed to assemble a new government coalition.

“Livni, 50, was elected as Kadima leader last month and hopes to take over as prime minister from Ehud Olmert, who stepped down in September over graft allegations but remains as caretaker premier.”

Russian-Chinese Cooperation

AFP wrote on October 28:

“Russia and China on Tuesday signed a long-awaited deal to build an oil pipeline from Siberia to China after talks between Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The leaders watched as Chinese state energy major CNPC and Russian state pipeline monopoly Transneft signed the deal to build the pipeline from the Siberian town of Skovorodino to the Chinese border. The pipeline agreed on Tuesday would have a capacity of 15 million tons of oil per year and would be a branch of the main East Siberia-Pacific Ocean trunk pipeline, which is still under construction, officials said.”

Arabs Like and Dislike Obama

The New York Post wrote on October 28:

“‘OBAMA! Inshallah!’ – Obama! Allah willing! That slogan, scribbled on walls in Gaza, indicates the hopes that Barack Obama has inspired among Arabs. While Obama has tried to push his origins into the background, his ‘Islamic roots’ have won him a place in many Arabs’ hearts. One columnist, Mohamed Al-Menshawi, hails Obama as ‘the candidate with Muslim roots’ and as the ‘harbinger of solidarity between Americans and the Muslim world.’

“Another, Al-Jazeera’s Aala al-Bayoumi, notes: ‘Had it not been for Obama, Arabs would not even bother to follow the US presidential race.’ What makes the difference is Obama’s ‘Islamic and African roots.’…

“While radical Arabs, including the Hamas leadership, favor Obama, most Arab officials are wary of him. They fear his inexperience and leftist connections might destroy all that has been gained in Iraq, provoke a bigger mess in Afghanistan, trigger a war with Pakistan and open the way for Khomeinist hegemony in the region…

“Obama… has retained his Arabic-Islamic names. (Barack means ‘blessed’ and Hussein means ‘beautiful.’) His family name is Swahili, an East African lingua franca based on Arabic. Arab commentators note that his siblings also all have Arabic Muslim names. His sister is called Oumah, Arabic for ‘the community of the faithful’ [and] his older daughter, Malia, bears the name of a daughter of the Caliph Othman, who commissioned the compilation of the first edition of the Koran. That Obama’s stepfather was also a Muslim (from Indonesia) strengthens the empathy that many Arabs feel for him…

“Arabs welcomed and widely commented on Colin Powell’s assertion that, even if Obama were a Muslim, it should not be held against him… Not all Arab commentators are struck by Obamania, however. His flip-flops on issues – including the future of Jerusalem, withdrawal from Iraq and dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat – have prompted some to counsel caution.

“Tareq Al-Houmayed, editor of the daily Asharq Alawsat, warns Arabs not to expect too much: ‘Every American president would be governed by American interests…’ Abdulrahman al-Rashed, a Saudi commentator, also notes that no president can radically alter US global policies. He advises Arabs to neither have exaggerated hopes nor be dispirited when Obama tells the Israelis ‘more than they hoped to hear’ to win Jewish support.”

Obama and McCain — “Become Honest”…

The German daily, Rhein Neckar Zeitung, wrote on October 11/12, 2008:

“Obama and McCain continue to build more air castles… An almost impossible task waits for the victor of the presidential elections… And still, both candidates insist on maintaining plans that would cost tax payers trillions of dollars… Critics ask the candidates to become honest… The question for the next president is how quickly hopes of the voters will change into disappointment…”

The Associated Press wrote on October 28:

“Democrat Barack Obama’s ‘closing argument’ speech Monday included a sweeping accusation against GOP rival John McCain: ‘Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he’d do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy.’ But the charge is debatable — McCain has several ideas that are different than Bush’s policy, which he touched on as recently as a Sunday interview on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’… The Obama campaign says the key word of Obama’s statement is ‘major,’ and the differences that McCain points to are minor details…”

On October 30, The New York Post wrote:

“Two leading infomercial stars agree: Barack Obama’s half-hour self-promotion last night was a flop. ‘I don’t see enough smiling. Doom and gloom totally,’ said Anthony Sullivan, one of the biggest names in infomercial history… He and AJ Khubani, who has produced infomercials for 25 years, said Obama also fell short of offering solutions to the dire problems he laid out… ‘We always spend much more time on the solution than the problem and he did the opposite,’ Khubani added.”

The Associated Press reported on October 28:

“A week from the presidential election, Republican John McCain is persisting in exaggerating and misrepresenting rival Barack Obama’s tax and health-care plans… McCain’s central claim — that people will be ‘forced’ into a new government-run [health-care] plan under an Obama presidency — is not true. In fact, Obama broke with many Democrats and others who advocate universal coverage when he announced his plan would be mandatory only for children, and voluntary for everyone else…”

Human-Animal Hybrids in the Making

AFP reported on October 23 about the following despicable developments in England:

“The lower house of parliament approved legislation Wednesday allowing scientists to create animal-human embryos for medical research, in the biggest shake-up of embryology laws in two decades… MPs in the House of Commons backed the Human Embryology and Fertilisation Bill by 355 votes to 129. It will now go to a vote in the House of Lords, and could be law by November.
 
“The wide-ranging bill… [also] gives lesbians and single women easier access to in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment by removing requirements for clinics to consider a child’s need for a father… Hybrid embryos [are] created by inserting the nuclei of a human cell into an animal egg…”

How the Abominable PAGAN Custom of Halloween Overtook Germany

Der Spiegel Online wrote on October 30:

“In the mid-1990s, few in Germany had ever heard of Halloween, and even fewer celebrated it. Now, it’s a €150 million a year industry… Most in Germany have never heard of Dieter Tschorn… but if one is looking for an explanation as to why millions of… Germans will be carving pumpkins, putting on costumes and begging for candy door-to-door, Tschorn is a good place to start. After all, more than anyone else, he is responsible for Halloween’s existence — and growing popularity — in Germany…

“Tschorn is a public relations consultant who went into business for himself in 1982. More to the point, however, he is also the spokesman for a division in Germany’s toy-making industry association responsible for Carnival, that annual season of costumed mayhem that culminates 40 days before Easter.

“Back in the early 1990s, Carnival was cancelled in Germany as a result of the first Gulf War — and those who make their living selling costumes and party supplies took a major hit. But the industry also had another important design flaw. Whereas the Carnival season always begins on Nov. 11, the timing of Easter can vary widely. Last year, for example, Easter fell on March 23, making the Carnival season just 87 days long, the shortest it had been since 1913.

“‘The shorter Carnival is, the lower our turnover — each week less represents a 5-percent drop in sales,’ Tschorn said. ‘We needed some consistency, which led to the idea to introduce Halloween in Germany.’

“It seems to have worked. In 2007, 4,600 tons of pumpkins were sold in Germany, says Tschorn. One can buy Halloween bread at the baker’s, Halloween sausage at the butcher’s, Halloween cocktails at the bar and, of course, Halloween candy in the nation’s supermarkets. Tens of thousands of German children now go door-to-door, holding out their bags and saying ‘sweet or sour,’ the German version of trick-or-treat.

“The Halloween promoter says that the holiday has become an industry worth around €160 million in Germany, in third place behind Christmas and Easter. In 1994, that number was close to zero. This year, the costume industry expects Halloween-related consumption to be 5 percent more than last year. ‘By the end of 1998, Halloween had become something of a cult,’ Tschorn said…

“Nevertheless, many in Germany aren’t nearly as excited as Tschorn is about the place Halloween has managed to carve out for itself in the country’s social calendar. The Evangelical Church is particularly irked that October 31st, the day on which Martin Luther launched the Reformation, is now more associated with a PAGAN HOLIDAY imported from Ireland via America than for Germany’s own contribution to religious history.”

For more information on Halloween, please read our free booklet, “Is That in the Bible?–Man’s Holidays and God’s Holy Days.

Understanding the true application of what Jesus stated is vitally important, and far too many people misapply what is meant.

The exact quote from Matthew 16:27 is as follows: “‘For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.’”

This statement is amplified by Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:10: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

The implication of Paul’s teaching points to how Christians fulfill their calling as members of the body of Christ—the Church of God (compare Ephesians 1:22-23; Colossians 1:24).

The Bible reveals the kinds of “works” that are acceptable to God, and these are done in the context of His calling us into the truth. Our reward that will be given to us entails our bearing fruit through the power of God’s Holy Spirit. Jesus carefully explained that we are to bear fruit (compare John 15:1-16).

What kind of fruit? A contrast is drawn between “the works of the flesh” and the “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:19-23. The works of the flesh are actions in rebellion against God’s laws, while the fruit of the Spirit is the outgrowth of obedience to God. Either one or the other of these opposing lifestyles frames our work—the way of this world or the way of God.

Paul challenges Christians to “…be imitators of God as dear children” (Ephesians 5:1). Continuing in chapter 5, he enumerates a different way of living, and he calls those who practice these vile actions “…sons of disobedience” (verse 6). In the next verse he warns us: “Therefore do not be partakers with them.” We find a similar warning to God’s people in Revelation 18:4: “And I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.’”

The kinds of works that are acceptable to God are the same kinds of works that Jesus Christ accomplished (compare Matthew 17:5). What were Jesus’ works?

The answer is found in what Jesus testified about Himself: “‘…for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of me, that the Father has sent Me’” (John 5:36). Jesus also said: “‘…My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work’” (John 4:34). In the prayer of Jesus Christ to His Father that is recorded for us in John 17, Jesus says, “‘…I have finished the work which You have given Me to do’” (verse 4). He continues in His prayer and mentions in both verses 14 and 16: “‘They [His disciples] are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.’”

Yet, while being separate from the world in its ungodly practices, Jesus was sent into the world so “that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17)! Note what Jesus taught: “‘The spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD’” (Luke 4:18-19).

Jesus spoke of these kinds of works when He gave an answer to John’s disciples about Who He was: “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them'” (Luke 7:22).

In considering what kind of works we are to be doing, we see in the example of Jesus Christ that He focused on what would ultimately be of the most help—He preached the good news of the Kingdom of God (compare Mark 1:15). Jesus Christ has also left this instruction for us: “‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven’” (Matthew 5:16).

Our “good works” are focused on preaching the gospel, but we have further responsibilities. Like Jesus, we are to reach out to others in our sphere of contact. Paul states: “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10); and: “But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Hebrews 13:16).

Jesus taught that we should consider those in need: “‘When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just’” (Luke 14:12-14).

The application for us is the same as it was for Jesus. His actions were focused on the work given to Him to preach the gospel. In the course of His ministry He was able to help, to heal, to even feed and to give hope! However, Jesus understood that His role was to point people to God’s Kingdom: “Jesus answered them and said, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him’” (John 6:26-27).

Some have mistakenly adopted an attitude that does not follow the true example of Jesus Christ when it comes to their purported “Christianity”: “‘Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”’” (Matthew 7:21-23).

The principle of God’s Word is that we do good whenever we can—that serving others in love is true godliness (compare 1 Corinthians 13:3). Carefully note the following concept as we prepare for the rewards God offers to those who love Him: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

The kinds of works we should be sowing include the following: “‘But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For he is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful’” (Luke 6:35-36).

And, Paul, speaking of the righteous judgment of God, states: “[W]ho ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’; eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality, but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil…” (Romans 2:6-9).

Lead Writer: Dave Harris

Long-time Evangelist Raymond F. McNair and a pioneer in the modern era of the Church of God died on the Sabbath of October 11, 2008, after a five-year fight with cancer. Mr. and Mrs. Rene and Delia Messier from Canada were staying in Escondido, on their trip to Arizona, and were able to visit Eve McNair and spend time with her and the family. Mrs. McNair stated in a letter to family and friends that Mr. McNair “trusted God knowing he would be delivered either through death or divine healing. ‘Not my will, but yours O Lord,’ were words he often repeated.” In the letter, Mrs. McNair thanked “all who have so kindly and passionately reached out to comfort me in my distress.”

Three new StandingWatch programs were posted on the Internet. Set forth below are summaries of the programs:

A New World

God created man to preserve the earth. Overall, man has done a terrible job in destroying and polluting the environment. The Bible predicts that it will get much worse. Because of man’s lack of right knowledge, the “beasts of the field and the birds of the air” and “even the fish of the sea will be taken away.” And still, man’s ultimate potential to beautify the earth will be fulfilled–in a few years from now. Learn how, in this program.

Watch this now on StandingWatch or Google Video or YouTube.

Comfort in Terminal Sickness

In this special on-location program, we are interviewing two people who are suffering from terminal sickness. You will be moved by their candid statements and expressions of faith in God–knowing that they are beyond medical help. If you are suffering from a serious sickness–or know someone who does–you NEED to watch this program.

Watch this now on StandingWatch or Google Video or YouTube.

Why Christians Keep “Jewish” Feasts

Annually, tens of thousands of Christians in all the world observe a little-known festival for over a week, called in the Bible the “Feast of Tabernacles.” Most outside the Jewish community have never heard of this Feast, but the Bible shows that within a few years from now, EVERYONE will observe it. Please join us in this special on-location program, which was taped in England during the festival, and listen to a Christian pastor explaining the biblical meaning of that little-understood Feast.

Watch this now on StandingWatch or Google Video or YouTube.

Recent Comments from our StandingWatch Viewers:

This man speaks the truth, but too bad most people don’t listen until it is too late.

… the America[n] way is coming to an end

Excellent video…..I agree…..I lived in Europe for 18 years working for the US government…and now live in the North West United States….many of my friends call me a “minimalist” but with the exception of a few years during my life….I’m not a very materialistic person… it’s poison…and it really will come to “own you” through work, spending, stress…it’s a big lie. America is over as we know it. Broke banks… broke government. $12 trillion debt….printing $700 billion in paper…

… his words coming true..

… living like this guy is talking about is just no fun. lust greed gluttony is fun stuff. yee-haah!

New sermon posted on Google Video:

Norbert Link, “Bible Study–Mystery of Righteousness,” September 30, 2008

by Laura Harris

Recently, I was cleaning out my “in-box” – a 12 inch pile of things to do and things to file — when I came across a card addressed to Paul Voss. I started to write Paul a note when he was first diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. However, I got preoccupied with other tasks and never completed my letter to him.  Now I will never have the chance to tell him in this life how much I missed him and that I was praying for his healing, or to encourage him to “hang in there” while undergoing treatment.

In hindsight, I wonder what was so important that I couldn’t take 10 minutes to write to an ailing friend.  How often do I neglect to tell friends and family through my words or actions how much I love them?  Do I overlook opportunities to help friends and neighbors in need because of other so-called pressing issues?  H. Jackson Brown, Jr., a New York Times best-selling author, is quoted as saying: “Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity.” I need to constantly remind myself to seize the day–to do what is most important first and don’t let opportunities to show love pass me by.